How Minimum Wages affect Automation and Innovation in a Schumpeterian Economy

Abstract

This study explores the effects of minimum wage on automation and innovation in a Schumpeterian growth model. We find that raising the minimum wage decreases the employment of low-skill workers and has ambiguous effects on innovation and automation. Specifically, if the elasticity of substitution between low-skill workers and high-skill workers in production is less (greater) than unity, then raising the minimum wage leads to an increase (a decrease) in automation and innovation. We also provide a quantitative analysis by simulating the effects of minimum wage on the macroeconomy. Finally, we test our theoretical results by estimating the elasticity of substitution between low-skill workers and high-skill workers and the effects of minimum wage on automation and innovation in China